GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

[Algot Runeman]

beleaguer

Pronunciation: /bɪˈliːɡə/
verb
[with object] (usually as adjective beleaguered)
1 Lay siege to: he led a relief force to the aid of the beleaguered city
1.1 Put in a very difficult situation: the board is supporting the beleaguered director

Origin
Late 16th century: from Dutch belegeren 'camp round', from be- '(all) about' + leger 'a camp'.



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The team's performance has been slipping and the fans are grumbling, loudly. The beleaguered owners are just about ready to bring up some B leaguers to replace the worst players.

[Algot Runeman]

skint

Pronunciation: /skɪnt/
adjective
British informal
(Of a person) having little or no money available: I’m a bit skint just now

Origin
1920s: variant of colloquial skinned, in the same sense, past participle of skin.



⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩⇧⇩

There is scant chance I'll gorge today.
Too skint to buy a meal, OK?
Worry not, I'll eat, not starve.
I'll put the touch on good old Harve.

[Algot Runeman]

parol

Pronunciation: /pəˈrəʊl/
/ˈpar(ə)l/
adjective
Law
1 Given or expressed orally: the parol evidence
1.1 (Of a document) agreed orally, or in writing but not under seal: there was a parol agreement

Origin
Late 15th century (as a noun): from Old French parole 'word' (see parole).

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

The officers were allowed to walk freely around the town. The parol agreement with their captors meant they would not try to escape. The ordinary sailors were not gentlemen and so could not be granted the same parole opportunity. A gentleman can give his word to another and will be expected to honor the agreement.

[Algot Runeman]

compendious

Pronunciation: /kəmˈpɛndɪəs/
adjective
formal
Containing or presenting the essential facts of something in a comprehensive but concise way: a compendious study

Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French compendieux, from Latin compendiosus 'advantageous, brief', from compendium 'profit, saving, abbreviation'.



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Ray resists the ramble.
Concise, clear preamble.
His speech compendious.
The thesis tight, no fuss.
Conclusion crisp and fun.
Enough said. I think we're done.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

compendious

It was never my intention to be compendious with the anecdotes about my grandma.

I told them in the same way grandma treated men other than grandpa: in a reserved casual manner and a restrained laissez-faire savoir-vivre.

[voralfred]

compendious

Pronunciation: /kəmˈpɛndɪəs/
adjective
formal
Containing or presenting the essential facts of something in a comprehensive but concise way: a compendious study

Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French compendieux, from Latin compendiosus 'advantageous, brief', from compendium 'profit, saving, abbreviation'.



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Ray resists the ramble.
Concise, clear preamble.
His speech compendious.
The thesis tight, no fuss.
Conclusion crisp and fun.
Enough said. I think we're done.

Nothing, indeed, can be more compendious, concise while being still comprehensive, than the answer 42 to every question !

[Algot Runeman]

emotive

Pronunciation: /ɪˈməʊtɪv/
adjective
1 Arousing or able to arouse intense feeling: animal experimentation is an emotive subject the issue has proved highly emotive
1.1 Expressing a person’s feelings rather than being neutrally descriptive: the comparisons are emotive rather than analytic

Usage
The words emotive and emotional share similarities but are not simply interchangeable. Emotive is used to mean ‘arousing intense feeling’, while emotional tends to mean ‘characterized by intense feeling’. Thus an emotive issue is one which is likely to arouse people’s passions, while an emotional response is one which is itself full of passion. In sentences such as we took our emotive farewells the word emotive has been used in a context where emotional would be more appropriate.

Origin
Mid 18th century: from Latin emot- 'moved', from the verb emovere (see emotion).

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

emotive

While my grandma could induce highly emotive reactions in most men, it was only grandpa she was drawn to, because he unrelentingly showed her abundant adoring, passionate and emotional response.

When the two were together, all rational considerations went overboard, though always within discrete boundaries, i.e. only in the privacy of their home, hotel room, ship's stateroom or shabby tent, never in public.

[Algot Runeman]

inculcate

Pronunciation: /ˈɪnkʌlkeɪt/
verb
[with object]
1 Instil (an idea, attitude, or habit) by persistent instruction: I tried to inculcate in my pupils an attitude of enquiry
1.1 Teach (someone) an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction: they will try to inculcate you with a respect for culture

Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin inculcat- 'pressed in', from the verb inculcare, from in- 'into' + calcare 'to tread' (from calx, calc- 'heel').

[Algot Runeman]

hebetude

Pronunciation: /ˈhɛbɪtjuːd/
noun
[mass noun] literary
The state of being dull or lethargic: after convalescence I would probably fall back into hebetude

Origin
Early 17th century: from late Latin hebetudo, from hebes, hebet- 'blunt'.



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You must be sharp to avoid being blunt.
It takes lots of skill to pull off the stunt
Of keeping on task and moving ahead
With no hebetude, sloth or lay-abed.

So go take your shower to smell like a flower.
Eat a good breakfast at an early hour.
Get out the door and into the car.
But recall it's the weekend before you get too far.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

hebetude

I'm glad Claude François never wrote and sang "Comme d'hebetude".

Who knows "What Way" Paul and Frank would have made of it.

[Algot Runeman]

abhorrent

Pronunciation: /əbˈhɒr(ə)nt/
adjective
Inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant: racism was abhorrent to us all

Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin abhorrent- 'shuddering away from in horror', from the verb abhorrere (see abhor).


Photo Credit: Original maggot photo by Massimiliano Calamelli cc-by-sa

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The policemen had a warrant.
Their words rushed out in torrent.
"Hands up, you're under arrest."
Evidence of guilt you can't protest.

Vile and evil were your deeds.
In minds of youth you planted weeds.
And didn't even pay your rent.
Both acts and words abhorrent.

[Algot Runeman]

cespitose

Pronunciation: /ˈsespəˌtōs/
adjective
Botany
Forming mats or growing in dense tufts or clumps.

Origin
Mid 19th century: from modern Latin caespitosus, from caespes 'turf': see -ose1.


Susanne Nilsson

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Mosses are my favorite cespitose plants. Moss fills in gaps in rock walls, makes mats on trees and forest floors that look comfortable to sit on. It gets even more interesting when you get a magnified look at it. A large mat is made of hundreds or thousands of tiny individual plants.

[Algot Runeman]

resplendent

Pronunciation: /rɪˈsplɛnd(ə)nt/
adjective
Attractive and impressive through being richly colourful or sumptuous: she was resplendent in a sea-green dress

Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin resplendent- 'shining out', from the verb resplendere, from re- (expressing intensive force) + splendere 'to glitter'.


JasonUnbound

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The house was made resplendent.
As were all attendant.
The party was successful
But clean-up sure was stressful.

[voralfred]

Unless I misunderstood EPS's posts, his grandma was never more resplendent in his grandpa's eyes than when wearing her furs with nothing else....

[Algot Runeman]

arboreal

Pronunciation: /ɑːˈbɔːrɪəl/
adjective
1 Living in trees: arboreal rodents
1.1 Relating to trees.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin arboreus, from arbor 'tree', + -al.


MunstiSue

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Each spring the majestic oak made a mess of the front lawn, dropping its flower parts before the green leaves were fully out. All summer, though, the family enjoyed sipping tea in its arboreal shade. That is, until those pesky gypsy moth larvae came through, showering their droppings onto the lawn chairs and making tea unsafe to drink. There wasn't much shade then, either.

Lymantria dispar dispar has been a significant problem in Massachusetts in the past. Some summers looked more like winter with leafless trees all over.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

arboreal

Would the students of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor nickname themselves arboreals ?

(These are students dentistry practicing on so-called phantom heads.)

[Algot Runeman]

(These are students dentistry practicing on so-called phantom heads.)

I see the head. I don't see the body. Wouldn't that be the phantom part?



Keeping with the arboreal connection, the phantom body is standing under some kind of tree, though not an oak.

[Algot Runeman]

gossoon

Pronunciation: /ɡɒˈsuːn/
noun
Irish
A lad.

Origin
Late 17th century: from French garçon 'boy'.



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The gossoon stood casually at the street corner. He was watching all the lasses passing by on the way to their school. Some few glanced back through their lashes as he boldly stared. He went no closer to the school knowing a nun would come out with her switch to chase him off.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

gossoon

...
He went no closer to the school knowing a nun would come out with her switch to chase him off.

And he knew he'd have to go soon for an equally urgent reason.

[Algot Runeman]

shotta

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
n. An armed gangster.
Examples
But to the uniformed men and women who crowded her living room, the lanky 29-year-old with a limp had the look of a gunman -- "a shotta," one of them told her.
Madeleine Bair: Casualties on the Battlefield of the "War on Drugs"

Dennis is a shotta, or drug dealer, partnered with his best friend Noel, whose vibrant dialogue shows unyielding allegiance to his friend and the Brixton streets.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

shotta

The dusty gray-bearded prospector limped up to the uncrowded end of the saloon's long bar, raised a grimy index finger and waited patiently for the busy bartender to notice him.

Finally the barkeep came over and asked him:
"Howdy old-timer, welcome. Whadda ye want? A shotta hooch?"

[Algot Runeman]

idyll

Pronunciation: /ˈɪdɪl/
noun
1 An extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque period or situation, typically an idealized or unsustainable one: the rural idyll remains strongly evocative in most industrialized society
1.1 A short description in verse or prose of a picturesque scene or incident, especially in rustic life.

Origin
Late 16th century (in the Latin form): from Latin idyllium, from Greek eidullion, diminutive of eidos 'form, picture'.


ehpien

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No smelly smoke, no noxious smog.
Turtles watch from the log.
An electric car at idle
On the lane, an idyll.

[voralfred]

That one is easy !

If a relationship could only be described as an idyll, it certainly must be that of EPS's Grandpa and Grandma (and her furs....)

[Algot Runeman]

crinkle

Pronunciation: /ˈkrɪŋk(ə)l/
verb
Form into small surface creases or wrinkles: [no object]: Rose’s face crinkled in bewilderment [with object]: he smiled boyishly, crinkling his eyes (as adjective crinkled) a skirt in crinkled fabric
noun
A wrinkle or crease on the surface of something: there was a crinkle of suspicion on her forehead

Origin
Late Middle English: related to Old English crincan (see cringe)



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His little bell did tinkle.
The paper, he did crinkle.
His shower, it did sprinkle.
His skin, then did wrinkle.